2011 Topps Lineage Giants #TG6 Roy Halladay

Phillies 9, Marlins 5
Game 158 - Saturday Night, September 29th in Miami
Record - 79-79, 3rd Place, 17 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Roy Halladay wrapped up a disappointing 2012 campaign with a win against the Marlins.

What It Means:  The Phillies are back at .500 and with four games remaining, they need to go 3-1 to finish with a winning record.

What Went Right:  Halladay allowed four runs on six hits in his five innings of work while striking out seven.  Jimmy Rollins went 3 for 4 and scored his 100th run of the season, making it the sixth time in his career he had crossed the century mark in runs.

Featured Card:  Doc finished the season with an 11-8 mark, and he heads into the offseason prepared to work on turning things around in 2013.  This is one of my favorite Halladay cards from 2011 - a card modelled off the 1964 Topps Giants set.  I thought the card would be appropriate for this post as Halladay rode into the sunset for the winter.

1995-1999 Phillies Want List

1998 Sports Illustrated #109

1995 Fleer/ProCards Clearwater Phillies - 30-card set
1995 Fleer/ProCards Piedmont Phillies - 30-card set
1995 Batavia Clippers Team Issue - 33-card set
1995 Martinsville Phillies Team Issue - 30-card set

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1996 Pinnacle All-Star FanFest - 31 Carlton

1996 Best Piedmont Boll Weevils - 30-card set
1996 Batavia Clippers Team Issue - 34-card set

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1997 Bowman Certified Blue Ink Autographs - CA70 Rolen
1997 SP SPx Force - 10 Rolen
1997 Upper Deck Blue Chip Prospects - BC3 Rolen

1997 Batavia Clippers Team Issue - 32-card set

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1998 Donruss Collections - Preferred - 638 Schilling
1998 Donruss Signature - Autographs - Rolen, Schilling
1998 Finest - The Man - TM17 Rolen, Mystery Finest - M3 Rolen, M5 Rolen, M6 Rolen, M32 Rolen
1998 Pacific Invincible - Moments in Time - 14 Rolen
1998 SP Authentic - Chirography - SR Rolen
1998 UD3 - 268 Schilling
1998 Upper Deck Retro - Quantum Leap - Q18 Rolen

1998 Clearwater Phillies Team Issue
1998 Clearwater Phillies Team Issue Update - 30-card set
1998 Batavia Clippers Team Issue - 35-card set

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1999 Finest - Future's Finest - FF1 Burrell
1999 Flair - Wave of the Future - 14 Burrell
1999 SkyBox Premium - Autographics - 8 Burrell, 44 Rolen, 47 Schilling
1999 SP Top Prospects - Destination the Show - D22 Burrell
1999 Stadium League Phillies Finest - 1 Rolen, 2 Abreu, 3 Brogna, 4 Gant, 5 Glanville, 6 Lieberthal, 7 Relaford, 8 Schilling, 9 Phillie Phanatic
1999 Topps Gallery - Exhibitions - E18 Rolen
1999 UD Ionix - 82 Rolen, Cyber - C13 Rolen, Warp Zone - WZ13 Rolen
1999 Upper Deck Challengers for 70 - Longball Legends - L24 Rolen
1999 Upper Deck Encore - UD Authentics - PB Burrell
1999 Upper Deck MVP - 500 Club Piece of History - 548HR Schmidt
1999 Upper Deck Retro - Old School/New School - S25 Rolen

1990-1994 Phillies Want List / 2000 Phillies Want List

2007 Chachi #54 Phillies Sweep Mets HL

Marlins 2, Phillies 1
Game 157 - Friday Night, September 28th in Miami
Record - 78-79, 3rd Place, 17 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Marlins walked off with the win when Carlos Lee singled off Josh Lindblom in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Fish a 2-1 win.

What It Means:  It was inevitable, but the loss means the Phillies have been officially eliminated from the postseason for the first time since 2006.

What Went Wrong:  Mark Buehrle held the offense in check over eight innings and the Phils failed to bring runners in scoring position home in both the eighth and ninth innings.  Cliff Lee had another solid outing, allowing only a run in seven innings while throwing only 86 pitches.

Featured Card:  The team's Golden Era began during the 2007 season and I'd argue it came to a close when Ryan Howard tore his achilles' tendon making the final out of 2011 N.L.D.S. Game 5.  It was a wonderful, magical and unforgettable run and I'm glad I made sure to savor and appreciate it while we were in the midst of the best stretch of Phillies baseball in the franchise's history.

This card highlights the defining moment of the 2007 season, when the Phillies took advantage of the Mets' complete and total collapse to win their first of five division titles.  In late August, the Phils completed a four-game sweep of the first place Mets, drawing them to within two games of the top spot in the East.  I'll never forget the entire team streaming out of the dugout to celebrate when Chase Utley knocked in Tadahito Iguchi with the winning run in the fourth game.  The team had so much ahead of them then - a World Championship in 2008, a return trip to the World Series in 2009 and a record-setting 102-win season in 2011.

The 2012 season is all but over, but I'd like to think (and hope) that the team has so much more ahead of them.  Come April 2013, it will be time to start another Golden Era.

Phillies at Marlins: September 28th to September 30th

Marlins Park - Miami, FL
Friday and Saturday 7:10, Sunday 1:10

Phillies 78-78, 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 17 games behind the Nationals
Marlins 66-90, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 29 games behind the Nationals

Phillies Probables:  Cliff Lee (6-8, 3.18), Roy Halladay (10-8, 4.40), Cole Hamels (16-6, 3.11)
Marlins Probables:  Mark Buehrle (13-13, 3.84), Ricky Nolasco (12-12, 4.35), Nathan Eovaldi (4-12, 4.29)

At the Ballpark:  In probably one of the lamest give-aways I've chronicled all season, the Marlins are giving away a "Marlins Kids Ice Cream Helmet Bowl" to the first 5,000 kids.  I translate this to mean that they have a surplus (roughly 5,000) of those cool helmets in which teams serve ice cream, and they're trying to unload them before the end of the season.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Jimmy Rollins - .248

Runs:  Jimmy Rollins - 98

Home Runs:  Jimmy Rollins - 23

RBIs:  Jimmy Rollins - 67

Stolen Bases:  Juan Pierre - 35

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 16

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.11

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 208

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 37

2006 Topps Phillies Fan Appreciation Day #20 Chase Utley

Nationals 7, Phillies 3
Game 156 - Thursday Night, September 27th in Philadelphia
Record - 78-78, 3rd Place, 17 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies dropped their last home game of the year as the offense (except Darin Ruf) just couldn't get going against Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals.

What It Means:  The Phillies are back at .500 with six games to play.  If you do the math here, they need to go 4-2 over the final six games to finish the season with a winning record.  They closed out the home portion of their 2012 schedule with a 40-41 record, becoming the first Phillies team since 2000 and the first Phillies team ever at Citizens Bank Park, to finish with a losing home record.

The next Phillies loss or Cardinals win will officially eliminate the team from postseason play for the first time since 2006.

What Went Wrong:  Tyler Cloyd's audition for 2013 isn't going so well.  Cloyd allowed six runs on six hits in his five innings of work.  He was victimized by three home runs and his ERA is now a lofty 4.91.

Ruf had a bases-clearing, three-run double in the first and Kevin Frandsen added two hits to raise his average to .335.  Everyone not named Ruf or Frandsen went a combined 3 for 26 at the plate.

2006 Topps Phillies Fan
Appreciation Day #5

Featured Cards:  The Phillies gave away a 9-card season highlight postcard set at last night's game and I'm hoping to track down a set for my collection shortly.

Back in 2006, the Phillies partnered with Topps to produce a special 27-card Fan Appreciation Day giveaway set, which featured several cards of players not found within any of Topps' other releases from the year.  I wish Phillies and Topps would do this again.  I'm sure it's cheaper for the team to produce 50,000 9-card postcard sets, but I love the idea of having a Phillies/Topps complete team set available only as a stadium give-away.

I know there's only a handful of us out there pining away for the first Phillies cards of Frandsen and Nate Schierholtz, so maybe there's just not that great a demand for a full Phillies/Topps SGA set.  If and when I'm ever running the Phillies, I'll be sure to bring back this set as one of my first orders of business.

1976 Topps #247 Terry Harmon

Nationals 8, Phillies 4
Game 155 - Wednesday Night, September 26th in Philadelphia
Record - 78-77, 3rd Place, 16 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The offense and the bullpen tried to keep the Phils in this game, but Kyle Kendrick's rough start was too much to overcome.

What It Means:  There are just seven more opportunities to catch the 2012 Phillies.  That's probably a good thing.

What Went Wrong:  Kendrick was knocked out in the third after allowing five runs on five hits, including three home runs.

B.J. Rosenberg's performance was probably the highlight for the Phillies, as he pitched three scoreless innings of relief and added an RBI-single.  Jimmy Rollins hit his 23rd home run of the season.

Featured Card:  There's nothing quite like receiving a package in the mail of unsolicited, unexpected baseball cards.  Jim, known as mrhaverkamp on The Bench and around the baseball card blogosphere, e-mailed me last week that he had a group of 46 cards for me from my '70s want lists.  The cards arrived a few days ago, and I'm happy to report I'm now much closer to my goal of having a full run of Topps Phillies cards from 1970-1979.  These cards look great all together in one groovy '70s binder.  Thanks again Jim!

2012 Chachi #57 Darin Ruf

Phillies 6, Nationals 3
Game 154 - Tuesday Night, September 25th in Philadelphia
Record - 78-76, 3rd Place, 15 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Darin Ruf hit a home run in his first Major League start as the Phillies defeated the Nationals, 6-3.

What It Means:  The Phillies did their part to postpone the Nationals' inevitable pennant clinching celebration.

What Went Right:  Ruf started the scoring with his solo home run in the second.  The Phils added four more runs in the third on Ryan Howard's RBI-single and a three-run home run from Carlos Ruiz.  Chooch is padding his career highs in home runs and RBIs as he now sits with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs in his career year.

Cole Hamels had a short outing, but he still earned his 16th win of the season.  A quartet of Phillies relievers held the Nationals scoreless before closer Jonathan Papelbon locked down the win and his 37th save.

Featured Card:  Ruf gets his well-deserved Chachi card, most likely becoming the final player featured in the 2012 Chachi set.  With his shot last night, Ruf has now hit 39 total home runs on the season - his first 38 coming in his record-setting year with Double-A Reading.  Here's the back of his card:

#18

Darin Cortland Ruf

Outfield-First Base

Bats: Right  Throws: Right  Height: 6'3"  Weight: 220

Born: July 28, 1986, Omaha, NE

Home: Omaha, NE

Drafted: Selected by Phillies in 20th round of June 2009 draft

Teams: Phillies 2012

Acquired: Via draft

Contract Status: Pre-arbitration eligible

Nationals at Phillies: September 25th to September 27th

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:05

Nationals 93-60, 1st Place in the N.L. East, 5 games ahead of the Braves
Phillies 77-76, 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 16 games behind the Nationals

Nationals Probables:  John Lannan (3-0, 4.43), Ross Detwiler (10-6, 3.10), Edwin Jackson (9-10, 3.77)
Phillies Probables:  Cole Hamels (15-6, 3.05), Kyle Kendrick (10-11, 3.89), Tyler Cloyd (2-1, 3.86)

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is the Goya Latino Family Celebration and Thursday night is the annual Fan Appreciation Night.  All fans will receive a postcard pack of the team's highlights from the 2012 season.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Jimmy Rollins - .250

Runs:  Jimmy Rollins - 97

Home Runs:  Jimmy Rollins - 22

RBIs:  Jimmy Rollins - 66

Stolen Bases:  Juan Pierre - 35

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 15

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.05

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 202

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 36

1979 Topps #269, #124, #468 and #581

1979 Topps Flashback:  There are only three more series left in the 2012 season, and only six more cards to feature in the flashback portion of my series preview posts.  Unfortunately, they're all Expos cards.  Today's quartet features four former pitchers with long careers and ties to both Phillies and Expos organizations.

Woodie Fryman pitched in parts of 18 seasons in the Majors, spending the bulk of his career with the Phillies (1968-1972) and Expos (1975-1976, 1978-1983).  The Phillies originally acquired him from the Pirates in December 1967 as part of the deal that sent Jim Bunning to Pittsburgh.

Dan Schatzeder had two separate stints with the Expos (1977-1979, 1982-1986) and one stint with the Phils (1986-1987).  Although he was a decent pitcher with the Phils (6-4, 3.76 ERA in 51 games), I remember him more as an occasional pinch-hitter.  Schatzeder was a career .240 hitter, although he went just 3 for 17 (.176) in his two years with the Phils.

Stan Bahnsen wrapped up his 16-year career with 8 games with the 1982 Phillies.  Once I get around to continuing my Missing Links series, Bahnsen will be one of the featured players as he has no Phillies baseball cards to his name.

Darold Knowles relieved in 69 games for the 1966 Phillies, going 6-5 with a 3.05 ERA.  Following his playing career, he served as the Phillies pitching coach in 1989 and 1990 under manager Nick Leyva.  He was let go after the 1990 season and replaced by Johnny Podres.

2012 Chachi Transactions #14 Ross Gload

With the long off-season a little over a week away, I wanted to take a look back at the personnel movement the Phillies had during their 2012 season.  While putting together that post (to be featured soon), I decided I needed to go back one last time and re-visit the 2011-2012 offseason now that we know where all the former Phillies ended up . . . with the exception of Ross Gload.  I can't find any indication that Gload played professional baseball in 2012, so my best guess is that his bad hip finally forced him to retire.

This list was last updated way back on February 22nd, upon Raul Ibanez signing with the Yankees.  At the time, we had no idea that Dontrelle Willis and Chad Qualls would be complete busts and that Jim Thome would finish out the year in Baltimore.

The starred players weren't featured on my list of transactions back on February 22nd, as there was no indication at the time these players were actually in the Phillies' 2012 plans.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency (Signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles)

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency (Signed a minor league contract with the Oakland A's)

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined (Signed with the Washington Nationals)

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined (Signed with the Texas Rangers)

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency (Signed with the New York Yankees)

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency (Signed with the Cincinnati Reds)

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent (Signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers)

Scott Mathieson (06, 10-11) 11/29/11 - Released (Signed with the Yomiuri Giants)

Ben Francisco (09-11) 12/12/11 - Traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Frank Gailey

John Bowker (11) 1/10/12 - Released (Signed with the Yomiuri Giants)

Wilson Valdez (10-11) 1/25/12 - Traded to the Cincinnati Reds for pitcher Jeremy Horst.

Coming Back

Pete Orr (11- ) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brian Schneider (10- ) 11/17/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a one-year contract

Jimmy Rollins (00- ) 12/19/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a three-year contract with a vesting fourth year

New Additions

*Raul Valdes (12) 10/25/11 - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the New York Yankees

Jim Thome (03-05; 12) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

Jonathan Papelbon (12) 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox

Ty Wigginton (12) 11/20/11 - Acquired with cash from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash

*Brian Sanches (06-07; 12) 11/28/11 - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Florida Marlins

Laynce Nix (12) 12/8/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Washington Nationals

*Steven Lerud (12) 12/12/11 - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Baltimore Orioles' organization

Dontrelle Willis 12/15/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cincinnati Reds

*Hector Luna (12) 1/2/12 - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox organization

*Jeremy Horst (12) 1/25/12 - Acquired from the Cincinnati Reds for infielder Wilson Valdez

*Juan Pierre (12) 1/27/12 - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Chicago White Sox

Chad Qualls (12) 1/31/12 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the San Diego Padres